Nails in strip form



Dec 2,

c, T. BEC

i April 0 1968 CARL TBECHT I 4 m 6 3;;

United States Patent O ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Nail for use in magazine fed nailing machine, having a notched head, and a collar immediately below the head with a notch coterminous with the notch in the head, whereby a plurality of nails can be arranged in stepped relationship with the collar of one nail resting on the head of the adjacent nail, and with the shank of said one nail received in the notches of said adjacent nail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates almost exclusively to the production of nails adapted to be cohered together in strips for use in automatic nailing equipment.

Various forms of nails and nail strips are Well known for such machines. For example, it is possible to take a plurality of ordinary common nails and secure them 1 together with their shanks in spaced apart parallel rela: tionship by means of a plastic web or by welded wires. These arrangements have the disadvantage that only a relatively few nails can be placed in a given space, due to the spacing between shanks of adjacent nails.

A second alternative is to utilize a plurality of ordinary common nails arranged in stepped relationship; that is, with a portion of the head of each nail resting on top of a portion of the head of the adjacent nail.

According to one teaching of the prior art, nails with their heads in stepped relationship are arranged with their points converging. This arrangement eliminates some of the space between adjacent nails, but requires a more complicated feeding apparatus in connection with the nailing machine.

On the other hand, if the shanks are maintained parallel while the heads are arranged in stepped relationship, there will still be some space between the shanks of adjacent nails.

United States Patent 2,940,081 in the name of Albert G. Juilfs and entitled, Cohered, Full Headed Nail, teaches a strip nail arrangement wherein the head of each nail is provided with a notch conforming to the outer contour of the shank of the nail, so that when the heads of adjacent nails are arranged in stepped relationship, the shank of one nail is received in the notch of the head of the adjacent nail. This permits the shanks to be arranged substantially in contacting, parallel relationship, and yet permits utilization of a substantially full headed nail.

It is advantageous in the use of automatic nailing equipment to provide a magazine structure which rises from the work surface at an angle of or more, so that the equipment is more maneuverable. When stripping nails of the type generally known as common nails or those with larger headsif they are arranged in a strip according to U.S. Patent 2,940,08l-the angle of the strip will be far less than the desired 30.

One solution to this problem is to provide a strip of nails, such as the strip shown in U.S. Patent 3,152,334 in the name of H. C. Lingle, wherein the nails are arranged in a strip with a space between the top of the head of the lowermost nail and the bottom of the head of the succeeding nail. While this does accomplish the 3,481,459 Patented Dec. 2, 1969 objective of attaining an angle of 30 or more for the resulting strip of nails, this does require complex automatic handling equipment in order to process a strip of nails in this manner.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION This invention contemplates a nail having a notched head, and a collar immediately below the head provided with a notch aligned with the notch in the head. A plurality of these nails can be arranged in a strip with their heads in stepped relationship, with the shank of one nail received in the notch of the adjacent nail and with the collar of this nail resting on the head of the adjacent nail.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a nail of the type described which is easily handled by automatic equipment during the process of aligning and cohering a plurality of nails into strips, and which will, because of the geometric proportions of the nail facilitate producing a nail strip which, with the individual nail shanks in the vertical position rises from the horizontal at an angle of 30 or more.

A further object is to provide a nail which, in strip form, is easily handled by the feeding mechanism of an automatic nail driving machine.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a plurality of nails according to this invention cohered together in strip form.

FIGURE 2 is a partial rear elevational view of a single nail according to this invention.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of a single nail according to this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a cross sectional view along the line 44 of FIGURE 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to FIGURE 1, it will be seen that the nail according to this invention includes a shank indicated generally at 10 having at one end a conventional point 12 and having at the other end a head indicated generally at 14.

It will also be seen in FIGURE 1 that each nail includes a collar 16, which is in efiect an enlarged portion of the shank of the nail immediately below the head. The importance of this collar will be discussed inmore detail hereinafter.

Referring now to FIGURES 2, 3 and 4, it will be seen that the head 14 of each nail includes a notch indicated at 18. This notch extends from the periphery of the head into a point tangent with the shank of the nail, and is generally of a configuration to receive the shank of another nail.

It will of course be understood that the purpose of the notch 18 is to permit the cohering together of a plurality of nails with their shanks in contact along substantially their full lengths, and at the same time, to provide a-substantially full head for the nail in order to maintain to as great a degree as possible the driving characteristics and holding power of the nail. Therefore, while the notch should freely receive the shank of an adjacent nail, it need not be formed to any precise configuration.

It will also be seen, particularly in FIGURES 2 and 4, that the collar 16 is provided with a notch 20 which is coterminous with the inner portion of the notch 18 in the head, in order to permit the cohering together of nails as described above.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the shank of each nail is provided with four flats ice 3 22a, 22b, 22c and 22d equally spaced about its periphery, with one of the flats 22a located at the base of the notches 18 and 20.

The provision of two flats spaced 180 apart with one of the flats at the base of the notch (for example the flats 22a and 22c) is taught in U.S. Patent 2,940,081 referred to earlier. According to the teachings of that patent, the provision of two such flats facilitates the alignment of a plurality of nails in strip form. That is, contact between the flat 22a of one nail and the flat 22c of the adjacent nail will tend to prevent relative rotation between adjacent nails.

It has now been discovered that the provision of the additional flats 22b and 22d spaced respectively 90 in opposite directions from the flat 22a at the base of the notches is very important in the development of automatic equipment for collating nails into proper orientation prior to the time they are cohered together. That is, during the collating process, it may be desirable to positively control the orientation of individual nails. This is made possible by providing the additional flats described above, which provide a surface which can be used to guide individual nails, properly oriented, into position for cohering them together.

Returning now to FIGURE 1, it will be observed that when a plurality of nails according to this invention are cohered together in strip form, the head of each successive nail will be spaced a short distance above the preceding nail by virtue of the collar 16. That is, when cohered together, the collar 16 of one nail will be resting upon a portion of the head 14 of the preceding nail, thereby accomplishing the spacing noted above. It has been discovered that this spacing is important and desirable during the cohering process in making it easier to handle the individual nails.

In addition, and more importantly, it will be observed that the angle defined between the horizontal and a line tangent to the spaced apart heads of a strip of nails will be greater than the angle which would be provided between the horizontal and the line tangent to the heads of a plurality of strip nails which did not have the collars of the nail of this invention.

It is well known in the art that a magazine for feeding nails cohered together in strip form will be designed so that the nails are maintained in the magazine with their shanks always parallel to the direction in which they will be driven. This of course means that with the nailing machine in a position to drive a nail vertically into a workpiece, the magazine will extend angularly upward from the workpiece at an angle substantially equal to the angle noted above defined by a line tangent to the heads of the nails cohered together and the horizontal. By virtue of the instant invention, as noted above, this angle is greater, thereby meaning that the magazine will extend upwardly from the workpiece at a greater angle than in the case of nails not having the collar according to this .4 invention. This greater angular relationship provides more clearance between the workpiece and the nailing machine, and permits its use in tighter quarters and the like than is possible with the more horizontally disposed machine. Preferably this angle should be 30 or greater.

It is believed that the foregoing constitutes a full and complete disclosure of this invention. Many modifications can be made in the specific embodiment described without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A plurality of nails cohered together in strip form, each said nail having a shank with a point at one end, a head at the other end, and a collar on said shank immediately beneath said head, said collar having a diameter less than the diameter of said head and slightly greater than the diameter of said shank, said head and collar having a notch of a configuration to receive the shank of another nail and extending radially from the periphery of said head to a line tangent to said shank, whereby in the strip the notch in said head and collar of a first nail receives the shank of the successive nail, at least a portion of the collar of said successive nail resting on a portion of the head of said first nail, whereby said heads of said plurality of said nails are spaced apart in the direction of driving, while the shanks of said nails are in contact throughout substantially their entire length.

2. The plurality of nails claimed in claim 1 wherein the axial thickness of said collar is greater than the axial thickness of said head.

3. The plurality of nails claimed in claim 1 wherein said shank of each said nail is provided with flats equally spaced about said shanks, one of said flats being at the base of said notch.

4. The plurality of nails claimed in claim 1 wherein the angle defined by a line tangent to the heads of said nails cohered together and the horizontal when the shanks of said nails are vertical is at least on the order of 30.

5. The plurality of nails claimed in claim 4 wherein the diameter of said collar is greater than the diameter of said shank by not more than 50% 0f the diameter of said shank.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,604,815 10/1926 Fedderman s5 2s 2,875,664 3/1959 Crooks -28 2,940,081 6/1960 Juilfs s5 17x 3,152,334 10/1964 Lingle 85-17 X RAMON S. BRITTS, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

